1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an e-money (hereinafter also called “e-money”) managing method and system suitable for use in managing/holding e-money, which is defined as an electronic alternative to a currency. The invention also relates to an e-money managing/holding medium, a computer-readable recording medium in which an e-money managing program is recorded, an electronic value (hereinafter also called “e-value”) managing/holding medium, and an e-value managing method.
2. Description of the Related Art
IC cards having an integrated circuit (IC) embedded therein have been popular as an electronic money managing/holding medium used in e-money managing systems.
The IC cards are equipped with a data memory for storing (loading) e-money, which serves as an alternative to cash, to be spent in payments. Compared to credit cards, the IC cards carry advantages of being free of arrears and of improved security guaranteed by security functions being added.
Nowadays, there are put into the market IC cards in which e-money is stored, depending on the purposes of its spending, in two or more storage areas separately provided on the data memory.
In these conventional systems, however, an external apparatus such as a reader is required to check what amount of money is left in the IC card, and it is thus likely that a user might spend all the e-money in the IC card without such intention. So, the user must always be worrying about the balance remaining in the IC card in order to keep some amount left therein, avoiding unnecessary spending.
In the conventional systems having two or more storage areas on the data memory each for storing e-money to be paid for some particular use, there is another issue that the e-money thus stored is such restricted in uses that the flexibility is significantly impeded.